Puccini’s Madama Butterfly continues to pull the crowds; partly, of course, because of the maestro’s music, but also because it is a simple, truthful story, based (albeit at some creative distance) upon real life events. The entire opera is set at...
When writer and director Isobel McArthur was commissioned to produce an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, it came with a word of warning: make sure it connects with a Glasgow audience. The advice must have worked not only for a...
Author Neil Gaiman‘s work has been successfully brought to both the big screen (with the animation Coraline) and the small screen (Good Omens) and now this Joel Horwood adaptation of his fantasy novel of the same name arrives on the huge Lyric...
A tropical forest isn’t the setting you might imagine for a Christmas musical. But when temperatures are minus 7 outside, the idea of being transported to a lush green land, if only for a couple of hours is inviting. The adventure starts from first...
It does my Christmas spirit no good at all to be writing a less than warm review about a Maxine Peake project. The star of Dinner Ladies, Silk, and the rightly acclaimed post-Hillsborough docudrama, Anne (plus a glittering array of theatrical...
Outside of Shakespeare, there can be few literary works that have been reimagined more often than A Christmas Carol, and Octagon Theatre Bolton’s musical take is definitely one for families. Kate Ferguson and Susannah Pearse’s adaptation focusses on...
Opera North returns to the myth of Orpheus for a second night at The Lowry, but this time this ancient story takes on a whole new operatic form in a collaboration with South Asian Arts UK. In a ground-breaking exploration of musical styles this new...
If ever grief was captured in a performance, this is it. Opera North’s Orfeo ed Euridice is a dramatic concert performance, where the set and costume design is stripped back, leaving the singers and music to take centre stage. That said, the stage...
The glittering ball that awaits audiences at Hope Mill Theatre this Christmas has been a long-time in the making. Owners, Joseph Houston and William Whelton had this show in their sights for four years, and twice its staging was stalled due to Covid...
Erich Kästner was an exceptional writer of fiction for children (Emile and the Detectives is perhaps his best known work). Identical is a new musical adaptation of another of Kästner’s tales, Lisa and Lottie. If you’ve seen any of the film versions...
Martin Thomasson
Dave Porter
Paul Thomason
Carmel Thomason
Georgina Wells